Unity Day

Concept

Australians celebrating their history and culture is never better than when we are all united.

At our best we take to our waterways and parks in our millions to celebrate our country. We cheer on our sporting teams and welcome new arrivals. We recognise and reward those who have excelled in their lives - no matter what their roles, along with the many everyday heroes whose work so often goes unrewarded.

Most importantly though, we celebrate because we know we are lucky to live in such a wonderful country. We can, however, make it an even better country by being fully united.

Unfortunately, in recent times, we have seen a rise in division and conflict across the world which is now sadly being reflected in Australia.

Many people are currently divided over issues, including; race, politics, religion, culture, sexuality, environment, the truth about our past or our vision for the future. Unfortunately, these divisions currently seem to be increasing and causing tensions and conflict here. If Australians can put aside those differences for one day and focus on unity and harmony rather than division, it may help take a small step to easing tensions and divisions.

Unfortunately, Australia Day on the 26th January has become another source of division due to the fact that many see it as marking the British invasion of a country in the possession of First Nations Peoples and may identify it as “colvasion day”. However, it is not proposed to change the date of Australia Day but rather to simply add an additional day of celebration about being Australian - Unity Day, which would not cause such division.

Unity Day though will be about more than just reconciliation between Indigenous and non Indigenous people. It will be about celebrating all nations and cultures, who have come here and have made, and continue to make an enormous contribution to the fabric of this country.

The concept of Unity Day is to have one day where all Australians put aside their differences and celebrate that which unites us rather than focus on that which divides us. Maybe we could even invite that neighbour, who has been difficult for so long, to come in for a cup of tea on Unity Day. 😊

The Date

The date which is proposed to celebrate Unity Day is the public holiday Monday closest to the 9th & 10th June.

The reason these dates have being selected is because they mark two events which demonstrate remarkable unity between Australia’s First Nations People and non-Indigenous Australians.

On 9th June 1803 British Naval Officer, Matthew Flinders (the person who gave Australia its name) completed his circumnavigation of Australia when he sailed into Sydney Harbour. He was accompanied and aided on this journey by First Nations man, Bungaree. It was an excellent example of the British and local First Nations People working together in unity to achieve an outstanding objective.

On the 10th of June 2000 a memorial was opened on the site of the infamous Myall Creek Massacre of 1838 where 28 women, children and old men were massacred by a group of stockmen. This massacre’s significance in Australia’s history is that it is the only time perpetrators of a massacre were arrested and hanged. At that memorial opening ceremony, direct descendants of one of the few survivors of the massacre welcomed and embraced descendants of the perpetrators. It was an act of extreme generosity, forgiveness, reconciliation and unity. Myall Creek has now become a place of hope, healing and unity rather than a place of conflict and tragedy due to those descendant’s actions.

Another benefit of the date is that we currently have a long weekend at that time to mark the King’s birthday (for which celebrations are currently quite low key) but as a sign of unity between monarchists and republicans the concept would be that both events could be celebrated side by side. The Unity Day celebrations would therefore be held on that public holiday. What could be more unifying than Republicans and monarchists celebrating as one.

Strategy

The idea is that this should be a grass roots movement, as opposed to something that comes from government. The word would be spread by word of mouth, email and social media, with people registering on this website as supporters of the concept.

Ultimately if there is a strong enough groundswell from ordinary Australians the various levels of government would be asked to officially mark the day/weekend.

Theme Song

Every good campaign needs a theme song and we hope you enjoy ours.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come" — Victor Hugo